Modern computer operating systems often provide a desktop graphical user interface (“GUI”) for displaying various graphical objects. Some examples of graphical objects include windows, taskbars, docks, menus and various icons for representing documents, folders and applications. A user can interact with the desktop using a mouse, trackball, track pad or other known pointing device. If the GUI is touch sensitive, then a stylus or one or more fingers can be used to interact with the desktop. A desktop GUI can be two-dimensional (“2D”) or three-dimensional (“3D”).
Modern mobile devices typically include a variety of onboard sensors for sensing the orientation of the mobile device with respect to a reference coordinate frame. For example, a graphics processor on the mobile device can display a GUI in landscape mode or portrait mode based on the orientation of the mobile device. Due to the limited size of the typical display of a mobile device, a 3D GUI can be difficult to navigate using conventional means, such as a finger or stylus. For example, to view different perspectives of the 3D GUI, two hands are often needed: one hand to hold the mobile device and the other hand to manipulate the GUI into a new 3D perspective.